A Washington Post reporter falsely claimed Friday that the beginning of the Russian effort to hack Hillary Clinton's campaign emails came the very same day that her opponent, Donald Trump, called on Russia to find Clinton's State Department emails.

On July 27, 2016, Trump spoke directly to Russia during a news conference. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," he said, referring to Clinton's deleted emails from her time as secretary of state.

The Trump administration would later claim the remarks were a joke, but the Clinton campaign criticized the comments at the time, saying, "This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent."

After the Justice Department announced Friday that a federal grand jury indicted 12 Russian government officials for hacking the computer networks of Clinton and the Democratic Party, Washington Post reporter Christopher Ingraham tweeted a screenshot of a portion of the indictment, claiming that Russia's hacking attempts began the very evening Trump made his remarks.

July 27, 2016, Trump: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing."
Indictment: That evening, Russian operatives targeted Clinton campaign emails "for the first time." pic.twitter.com/fanyaAxwfJ

Ingraham's tweet was widely retweeted and shared by other reporters and liberal pundits. He also posted a series of tweets calling the section of the indictment proof of "collusion" between Trump and the Russians.

This is what makes the whole discussion so surreal. He colluded *right in the f'ing open*, on TV! https://t.co/ZZIaKqANdb

Earlier in the indictment, however, the U.S. government details multiple attempts to hack the Clinton campaign's emails before Trump's July 27 speech (emphasis added):

Starting in at least March 2016, the Conspirators used a variety of means to hack the email accounts of volunteers and employees of the U.S. presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton … including the email account of the Clinton Campaign's chairman…

By in or around April 2016, the Conspirators begin to plan the release of materials stolen from the Clinton Campaign, [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee], and [Democratic National Committee]…

For example, on or about March 19, 2016, LUKACHEV and his co-conspirators created and sent a spearphishing email to the chairman of the Clinton Campaign…

Starting on or about March 19, 2016, LUKACHEV and his co-conspirators sent spearphishing emails to the personal accounts of other individuals affiliated with the Clinton Campaign, including the campaign manager and senior foreign-policy adviser…

On or about April 6, 2016, the Conspirators created an email account in the name (with a one letter deviation from the actual spelling) of a known member of the Clinton campaign. The Conspirators then use that account to send spearphishing emails to the work accounts of more than thirty different Clinton Campaign employees…

Ingraham appears to have misunderstood the part of the indictment he screenshotted. It actually says that July 27 was "the first time" the hackers targeted a third-party domain used by Clinton's personal office. It does say that around the same time they targeted 76 emails at the Clinton campaign domain, but the attempts to hack the campaign had begun months earlier. By the time Trump made his speech, the Russians had already successfully hacked the emails of John Podesta, the campaign chairman.

The reporter would later admit his mistake on Twitter, but did not delete his initial, inaccurate tweet, even as it racked up thousands of retweets.

Important clarification as @awprokop notes: The Russians had been targeting the Clinton campaign since at least April. But after Trump's plea it looks they stepped up their spearfishing efforts and targeted certain accounts for the first time. https://t.co/BMVRlxKml2

Alex GriswoldEmail Alex | Full Bio | RSSAlex is a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2012. Before joining the Free Beacon, he was a writer for Mediaite and The Daily Caller. He is originally from Buffalo, New York, but regrettably now lives in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at griswold@freebeacon.com